WEASEL WORD Definition & Meaning

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weasel word

noun

a word used to temper the forthrightness of a statement; a word that makes one's views equivocal, misleading, or confusing.

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Other �y��vlog Forms

�ɱ�s��-�ɴǰ��e�� adjective

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of weasel word¹

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

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Idioms and Phrases

A word used to deprive a statement of its force or evade a direct commitment, as in Calling it “organized spontaneity” is using a weasel word; “organized” has sucked the meaning out of “spontaneity.” This idiom may allude to the weasel's habit of sucking the contents out of a bird's egg, so that only the shell remains. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

When he even pretended to be moderate on abortion with his weasel words around the Florida ban, anti-choice activists threw a fit.

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"The field is replete with weasel words and unfortunately one of those is consciousness," says Prof Stevan Harnad of Quebec University.

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“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said.

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Stella Assange said the “so-called assurances” were made up of “weasel words.”

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Rodgers and others have deployed “influence” as a weasel word, meant to deflect attention from, shade or soften the unambiguous meanings of “rule,” “reign,” “govern” and “dominion.”

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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